Chapter 4: Parchment

Disclaimer is in the first chapter.

POV – Layla

When I wake up the next morning, the sun is only just beginning to rise. Funny, that, because I'm not really a morning person. Then I realize why; my cat Binks is walking up and down my stomach and demanding food.

"Binks, go back to sleep," I say, rolling over onto my back and stuffing the pillow over my head; but Binks just proceeds to sit on my head, so after five minutes of struggling to breathe, I sit up, get dressed, and go down to the common room. To my surprise, other people are already up, and far more awake than I am. Binks is still yowling for food, but Colin bounds up to me with a camera, so I shut my cat up for a bit by scratching him behind the ears so I can talk.

"Hi Layla!" he says, lifting up the camera and taking a picture of me. I blink in the bright light. "Are you excited? I am! This is so amazing, when I woke up I thought I would be back home but we're here! I'm going to get a picture of everything – when d'you think Harry Potter will be down at the Hall? He survived a Killing Curse, you know, it's SO cool…"

I shrug. "I can't say, he lives with Muggles over the summer and I'm new here too. But if you're so eager, how about we go down now and have breakfast?" Binks yowls his approval.

We trot down to the Great Hall, Binks complaining about our slowness, Colin stopping every five seconds to take a picture of something. I don't really blame him – on the way there, we have to pass the Fat Lady, who takes good care to pose nicely, some partially animate suits of armour, and a poltergeist. The only reason the poltergeist doesn't attack us with chalk is because he's busy writing rude words on the wall next to a tapestry of some idiot trying to ride a Chimaera.

When we arrive at the Great Hall, it's close to deserted, but for a couple of early risers. I look up; the enchanted ceiling is full of clouds, grey and stormy. Typical Scottish weather, always raining when it ought to be nice out. I look up along the four house tables – Ravenclaw and Slytherin have a couple of people at each of them, Gryffindor has one, and Hufflepuff is completely deserted. Colin finishes taking pictures of the bacon and sits down. I take a seat next to him as he eagerly starts drowning some toast in honey. "I can't wait to get to lessons, what have we got, do you think?"

I take out my timetable with one hand and grab some eggs with the other. Binks steals a sausage and runs off with it while I read. "Let's see, Tuesday… UGH!"

"You've got a timetable? What is it?" Colin asks through a mouthful of what's mostly honey.

I groan. "History of Magic… DOUBLE History of Magic!"

"Won't that be interesting?"

I sigh. "Usually, the most interesting thing about the class is the bit when Professor Binns floats through the chalkboard. He's a ghost, see, and he can barely keep the names of his students straight. He just drones on and on about some old wizarding treaty or goblin rebellion for hours while everyone falls asleep. You'd think goblin rebellions would be bloody and interesting, but no, he make it dull as anything."

Binks trots back, having finished the sausage, and starts begging Colin for some toast, which he hands over. "I'm sure it can't be that bad. And anyway, how did you get the information? I haven't got mine yet."

"Oh. Ravenclaws get all theirs early, see? They're all a bit nerdy, I guess, so they get theirs early so they can prepare. I borrowed this off my cousin."

"Can I see?" Colin begs eagerly, and I hand him the sheet. "Wow! Herbology… Charms… Defence Against the Dark Arts… Transfiguration… Astronomy… FLYING? We get to learn how to FLY?" I nod and finish my eggs off as he starts bouncing up and down. "WOW! Is that like – with a broom – or levitation – or carpets?"

"Brooms," I say. "Levitation's practically unheard of, and carpets are banned in Europe because of some law or another. Shame, really, because not everyone's good on a broom, but carpets can fit a whole family." I stand up. "I'm going to get some stuff, okay? I'd come back here to get your personal timetable a bit later – the post comes then, too, so don't miss it, or the owls will follow you to class."

Colin nods and starts drowning his second piece of toast, and I take the timetable to head back upstairs and catch a few extra winks.

About an hour later I get up, re-brush my hair, shove Binks off the bedside table, grab my books, and pop back down to the Great Hall. It's much busier, now; as I step in a paper bird, magically enchanted, just barely misses my face as it goes soaring across the room. Some people at the Slytherin table are loudly discussing politics, some Hufflepuffs are playing Exploding Snap, there's an argument around the ethics of Transfiguration going on at the Ravenclaw table, and the post has just arrived. I'm about to cross the Hall when all of a sudden, I notice some smoke coming from the Gryffindor table. Moments later, a cacophony of noise explodes out of what appears to be a letter. An angry woman is yelling at her child for – flying a car? Must be those two second years who showed up late yesterday. I heard they'd flown here, all that noise when they walked in.

A flash from the table brings me back to Earth; Colin must be taking yet another picture. As people start talking again, I slip in next to a couple of girls from my dorm.

"You missed the Professor," Asterope Blishwick, a pretty brunette, says as she attacks a pancake with jam.

I shrug. "It's okay, I got a timetable off my cousin."

"Aren't you going to eat?" a redhead who introduced herself last night as 'Ginny' asks. "They feed you lost here, may as well make the most of it."

"I ate already. My cat woke me up in the morning," I reply, as a large, multicoloured Fwooper drops a letter on my lap and starts pestering me. "Oh, fine, Bragi, take some toast." I hand it over and turn the letter over. It's from my other cousin, Juniper. I open it and pull out a letter. In scrawly, wobbly writing are the words:

'HI LAYLA!

WHAT HOUSE ARE YOU IN

IS SNAPE SCARY

FEED THE BRAGSTER

LOVE FROM JUNIE'

I sigh, and write back my letter.

Hey, Juniper.

I got into Gryffindor. Yay!

No, he looks like a cute fluffy kitten.

I fed your bird.

Love from Layla

Asterope peeps over my shoulder with a mouth full of pancake. "The best house," she says, her voice muffled. "Add that in."

I do as I'm told. "So," I say, as Bragi steals another piece of toast and flies off, "History of Magic. Bet you a sickle someone falls asleep by the end of it."

"Who're we with?" Asterope's fraternal twin sister, Eira, asks. I check over the paper.

"Slytherin. Seems like a bit of a tradition."

Eira shoots me a grin. "Slytherin? No deal. They'll be under within five minutes, the bunch of snobs…"

I feel oddly like I've had this conversation once before, but before I can dwell on it, Colin trots over with a pile of photos about a foot tall and the entire grade in my house crowds around. To be fair to him, some of them are pretty good. He has a nice shot out of the window overlooking the lake, several paintings, all of which are waving at us, and even a good, non-blurry, non-chopped-off shot of Peeves… it must have been the flattery of being in someone's photo collection that made the poltergeist sit still. Heavens knows the only other people who can calm him are the Bloody Baron (who isn't really a person, per se) and the Weasley twins, the latter only because they've been known to bribe him with sharp objects.

When the time comes, Colin puts away his photographs and we all troop down to our history class. I've heard about this and I'm already tired, and a little disappointed no-one took me up on my bet. We arrive, see the teacher enter through the wall, and… boom. Eira was right. Half the class is out to it by the end of the first period, and we still have another to go. I half-heartedly take notes and amuse myself by drawing little cartoons of Helfair the Hairy getting beaten up by Erk the Egregious. By the time we're up to Erk leading a rebellion against the Bill of House Descent and failing miserably, I can barely keep my eyes open. Beside me, Eira and Asterope are gossiping about some band. Ginny is nodding over her parchment. Colin isn't even taking pictures of the Professor. It's almost nuts. I glance over to the Slytherin side and see that, while most of them are being a little more subtle about it, they're just as bored out of their minds.

Mostly. One student, I notice, has her head down and is scribbling madly, so much so that there's ink dripping down her arm. I'm surprised, seeing as a Bill about houses falling down isn't THAT interesting, even for someone nerdy like Otto. But as the professor drones on and on, her writing becomes faster and faster, until she nearly upsets her ink pot. At this point, the bell goes off, and still, she continues to write for another twenty seconds before getting up. As she does so, her dark, curling hair swings away from her face. It's – that girl Otto sat with on the train. What was her name? Nora? No, that wasn't it – Nyssa. She didn't really seem the type of be interested in these kinds of matters… then again, Slytherin students rarely seem to be a type at all.

I forget about this, though, when we get to our next class. It's Transfiguration, and I am excited. Our head of House, Professor McGonagall, gets up and talks to us about the subject, then changes her desk into an actual pig – and back again, of course. This is the subject when we get to change stuff to be other stuff, although I'm sure Otto could have put it more elegantly. It's with the Slytherins again, but I don't actually mind, because McGonagall doesn't seem the type to take nonsense. Plus, I'm pretty sure Otto has a Great-Uncle in Slytherin, so at least a very small percentage can't be that bad.

The Professor gives us all a matchstick and tells us to change it into a sewing needle, and we get to work. For the most part, nothing much happens, apart from Eira accidentally causing hers to combust. By the end of the lesson, I've only just managed to get my matchstick to be pointy at the end, but I don't mind. The professor sets us practice for homework, which is decent of her, considering there's always the essay bin, and we troop down to lunch.

I strike up a conversation with Colin, who is overeager as usual and takes a large photo of Binks as he eats a small bug. It's interesting, at least, because Binks apparently thinks chewing with his mouth open is poite and we commiserate over our history class and talk about the sights around the castle. Colin gets very curious when I tell him about the other wizarding schools, and his head looks set to explode when I explain about the pyramids being full of magic.

"So, they're all full of spells and traps by wizards? They were built by them? WOW! That's so awesome, Layla!"

I nod. It's pretty awesome even for a half-blood. I'm halfway through explaining to him about the secret passageway that leads from the Bust of Hodgson the Ho-Hum all the way down to the Forbidden forest when my cousin busts in, because he's like that.

"Hey, Layla? We were talking about something that happened in History of Magic today." He glances up and grins at Colin. "Hello. I'm Layla's cousin, Otto."

He holds out a hand and Colin beams, shaking it vigorously. "I'm Colin, Colin Creevey! I'm a muggle born."

Otto smirks slightly at Colin's enthusiasm. Then, he turns to me. "Nyssa took some notes during the lesson and she thinks she's figured something out, and frankly, I agree with her, it's worth investigating. We're going down to the library tomorrow to check it out, because – guess what? Charms is cancelled, someone hexed poor old Professor Flitwick and Madam Pomfrey is insisting on keeping him in the hospital wing. Colin can come too, if you like – we're going in the morning, during lesson time."

I frown. "Library? That's a pretty big detractor right there."

Otto grins a sly grin. "Well, there's something in it. For you both."

"What?" I ask, puzzled.

He smirks at me even more than he smirked at Colin. Oof. "Wait and find out," he says, before slipping away back to the Ravenclaw table, entirely unaffected by my irate glare.

I hate that bit about him.

POV – Albus

I cannot believe someone set off a trap within the first day of school. It wouldn't have mattered so much, except it caught out Filius, and I can't afford to have a teacher out of action, a house leader, no less.

"Well, Severus?" I say, masking my impatience. It works, because he doesn't show any signs of surprise.

"It was meant to hit my students, sir, but went off wrong. I suggest detention for the culprits, as they have incapacitated Filius for a few days," he drawls.

I nod. "Well, thank you, Severus. You are a great help."

"I live to serve," he says. I can't tell if he's being serious or if it's an underhanded jab – knowing Severus Snape, probably the latter. I frown as he sweeps out. Perhaps I need to strengthen my hold on the populace…